1990 Sealine 255

[60F]

A rather unhappy friend of mine has a 1990 twin petrol (2.8 litre apparently circa 150bhp outdrives) Sealine 255 which is based on the upper Thames near Benson. He is not very experienced with boats and has been told by a local Marina that there are traces of fuel in the bilge water. The source of the fuel may be either a leaking tank or hose between the tank and engine. The main problem is that both he and the yard are unsure exactly where the fuel tanks are, what they are made of, or how to get to them for inspection. I assume this probably involves removing some panels in the floor, but does anyone have any experience of doing this that might help him? Alternatively, are there any boatyards / engineers on the Thames that people could recommend that may have particular expertise with these boats?

Also, he is finding the boat difficult to manoeuvre. Apparently the outdrives do not have rudders fitted. Does anyone have any ideas on anything that may assist the manoeuvrability (e.g. bolt on rudders to direct the thrust) and the best place to source? The other suggestion has been to add some ballast and it would be interesting is anyone has any experience on this too.

Hopefully a couple of minor fixes (!) will see him enjoying the boat, so thoughts gratefully received.

 

[Chris_d]

Tank is probably under the mid cabin berth, as its petrol I would find the leak fast and don't start or switch much on.
Twin outdrives shouldn't need bolt on rudders its just a case of getting used to the handling and maybe getting some tuition, twin outdrives need a bit more skill than the average boat but can be super manoeuvrable on the river. Ballast shouldn't really be necessary and you would need a half a tonne or so to make any real difference which would ruin the boats sea-going performance.

 

[Momac]

On similar sized sealines such as the later S24 and S23 the tank is between the engine bay and the mid cabin.
I dont know if this applies to the 255 .
The tank is probably aluminium, again a guess based on later sealines.

Handling a small sports cruiser is probably more difficult than a bigger one. As said its a matter of practice although some expert tuition might well be worthwhile.

 

[rosssavage]

The fuel tank is under the mid ship berth. The water tank is a vertical tank along the aft bulkhead of the same cabin (I used to have a 255 )

The handling is par for the course for a twin stern drive spots cruiser I'm afraid - not a huge amount you can do about it practically...

As mentioned above, SORT THE FUEL LEAK!!! The fuel vapour will pool in the bilges and a fire or explosion is inevitable if it's not sorted soon...

 

[CX54WEK]

Handling a boat with twin drives should become a doddle with some practice. He just needs to get out and get used to it. But first and most importantly he needs to find and fix that fuel leak. A fuel leak on a petrol boat is potentially deadly. Get it sorted.

 

[60F]

Hi Rossavage,

I understand the Marina has indicated that they may have to cut through glassfibre to get at the tank. I would have expected them to just remove a few nuts and bolts to release an access panel. Do you recall exactly how to get at the tank?

 

[rosssavage]

Depends on how much of the tank they need to access. The base of the berth in the mid cabin lifts out, giving you access to almost the entire top of the fuel tank.

However, the rest of the tank (sides and base) is not accessible this way, and may well require cutting of the berth base to access I'm afraid...

It may be possible to lift the tank out without cutting - you'd need to remove the water tank first and lots of the interior trim. I say may, because this wasn't something I ever did but it looks just about possible. Not easy though, the yard may want to cut as that's probably actually quicker and less grief than removing half the boat to get the tank out!!

A good GRP / gel coat repair afterwards and you wouldn't know they'd been in there...

 

[CX54WEK]

Can he not remove the base of the midships himself and see if he can see the source of the fuel leak?

 

[rosssavage]

That would be my first port of call - 10 min job to remove bedding, 6 screws and then the base just lifts out....